As much as I loved Wicked, I had a hard time getting into this book. If I'm right, I do believe this is the 3rd book in the Oz series. I was entranced with the 1st (Wicked), entertained by the 2nd (Son of a Witch), but this 3rd one. . .was redundant. Every other chapter just seemed to reiterate the fact that the Cowardly Lion was indeed- cowardly, and every other synonym to describe him as such. It did pick up toward the end; making me wish I had read the books chronologically back to back instead of years between. All in all, I do believe it was a great ending tying everything together, while leaving possibility for another adventure. I just feel it's a shame that it took 300 pages to get there. ( )

I'm adoring this book. "Son of a Witch" was very disappointing to me, but I think this one is fantastic. The plot is absorbing, even while its slow, and the language is just superb. This is the first book in a long time that I've savored- and I'm having a hard time putting it down. Very glad that it's my first read of the new year! ( )

In the third book of The Wicked Years series, we learn the story of Brrr, better known as the Cowardly Lion. Told mainly in retrospect, as he remembers his past, we get an interesting look at the Cowardly Lion, mainly a bit player in the life of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. He made many mistakes, his morals questionable, being tarred, unfairly, amongst other things as Elphaba's familiar, a collaborationist to the Wizard, and most recently a traitor. Now he is on the hunt for the Grimmerie after making a deal with the government to avoid being tossed into Southstairs. He searches out Yackle, the maunt and oracle who always seemed to hover on the edge of Elphaba's story.

I found this book to be a big improvement upon Son a Witch, Maguire's follow up to Wicked. The story was interesting and engaging. Though not a likable sort of fellow, I really felt sorry for Brrr. Change only one or two of his choices and his life would have been very different. I can also see an improvement in Maguire's writing. The descriptions and characterizaton pulled me in more than some of his past books managed to do, and felt more like the Maguire that you first glimpsed in Wicked than the Maguire we sometimes get. If only for this line, "Yackle reached for something to throw, and all she could find was her other hand, which wouldn't detach," found on page two, this book was well worth the read. Bbased upon the way the book closed, I fully expect at least one more book in this series, and I look forward to it. ( )

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves as well. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen accidents, meetings, and material assistance that no one could have dreamed would come their way. Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. - Goethe, by attribution

A statement about luck is a statement about the mind, not about the world. . . . We find what seems to have been the lucky break or the big mistake, and so we thank our lucky stars that we took the road less traveled or curse the fates that sent that little wavelet that flipped us on our backs. With hindsight, we seem to see that everything preceding the pivotal point was leading up to it, tending toward it, and that everything following it grew from it. To any observer outside the lucky one himself, however, luck is simply chance. Chance is neutral. - Eric Kraft, "I Consider My Luck,"from Brothers and Beasts:An Anthology of Men on Fairy Tales

Dedication

For Maurice Sendak King of all wild things

First words

The time came for her to die, and she would not die, so perhaps she might waste away, they thought, and she did waste, but not away; and the time came for her to receive final absolution, so they set candles upon her clavicle, but this she would not allow.

Quotations

Last words

But the clouds suggested this only to themselves, while he kept his head down, bent to his task.

Wikipedia in English (1)

A Lion Among Men complements the New York Times bestseller Son of a Witch in fleshing out the world of Oz, seen this time through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion-remembered from Wicked as a tiny cub defended by Elphaba. While civil war looms in Oz, an ancient and tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before she can return to dust, however, the Cowardly Lion, an enigmatic figure named Brrr, arrives in search of information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. As payment, Yackle, who hovered on the sidelines of Elphaba's life, demands some answers of her own.

Abandoned as a cub, Brrr's earliest memories are only gluey hazes. But his path from infancy in the Great Gillikin Forest is no Yellow Brick Road. Seeking to redress an early mistake, he tumbles though a swamp of ghosts, becomes implicated in a massacre of trolls, and falls in love with a Cat princess. Sidestepping the laws that oppress talking Animals, Brrr cannily avoids a jail sentence by agreeing to serve as a lackey to the warmongering Emperor of Oz.

A Lion Among Men traces a battle of wits between adversaries distracted by the armies approaching on either side of them. What does the Lion know of the whereabouts of the Witch's boy, Liir? What can Yackle reveal about the auguries of the Clock of the Time Dragon? Is destiny ever arbitrary? Can those tarnished by infamy escape their sobriquets-cowardly, wicked, brainless, criminally earnest-to claim their own histories, to live honorably within their own skins before they're skinned alive?Synopsis from Barnes and Noble

AR 6.1, 15 Pts

Haiku summary

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In this third novel of the "New York Times"-bestselling series, civil war looms in Oz, and an ancient oracle named Yackle prepares for death. But before she can die, the Cowardly Lion arrives seeking knowledge about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West--the woman who had defended him when he was a cub.… (more)